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By Ralph Daniel Past President of NAAAP
The Blue Book, Vol. XXIV, 1972 Scottsdale, Arizona
Mr. Daniel was born in Montgomery, Virginia. He moved to Phoenix in December, 1971, and became Assistant Commissioner for Addictive Behavioral Services of the State Health Department.
I would speak to you briefly about the humor of God. Most of us believe in God, who created man and who understands him. We believe that the so‑called natural laws like gravitation or the activity of the atom are also creations of God and are thoroughly understood by God. I don't think that we would get much argument if we declared that God has also made some natural laws of human behavior and about human personality. We would agree that God understands how we became the individuals that we are; He knows what makes us tick. When things go wrong with our behavior or when we get tied up in some very complicated knots, I believe that God understands these problems and he knows the answers. He knows the cures. I suspect that many times God sees man doing things that give immediate satisfaction, but in the long run cause more problems than we can cope with. Now, if all these beliefs are true, then it seems logical to believe that God understands the causes and the cures of alcoholism. I don't believe, incidentally, that any mortal man knows the causes and the cures of alcoholism. We have learned many things about alcoholism since 1935, and I think many of us have some of the answers. I suggest, then, that we are in the process of finding out some things God has known for a long, long time. Let me put this in another way. God is gradually revealing to man certain truths that man needs to know. I said I was going to talk about the humor of God. I think the real humor is found in the way God reveals this knowledge. I think this humor seems more pronounced in the area of understanding alcoholism. There has been developed in this world a body of learned men who have devoted their entire lives to communication with God and of putting into practice the truths that they find about God's answer to human problems. Clergymen are people who spend countless hours in colleges and seminaries collecting facts about God's plan. Clergymen are pros whom we support abundantly in order that we can live abundantly in God's world. Now, if you put together the things that I've said so far, you come up with something like this: “Man faces a very serious problem that can destroy lives. God knows the answer. There is a group of experts in communication with God. We have here a problem, a solution, and a pipeline through which the solution might flow.” It strikes me as a layman as being extremely funny that God by‑passed his communication pros and made his first important revelation about alcohol to drunks. I see real humor in bits of knowledge coming from universities, and colleges, and laboratories, and social workers, and psychologists, and drunks, while the clergy have been by‑passed and have been almost silent on alcoholism. As a layman, I see real irony in a group of people finding real salvation through a belief and a trust in a higher power, and doing all of this without benefit of clergy. I can go to the AA meeting and I can feel there the presence and the power of God in a way that I seldom feel when I go to church. I suppose that you can say that I am going to the wrong church? But I think many of your parishioners would say the same thing. Now, I notice that you are not overcome with laughter; I notice that nobody is rolling in the aisles. I think that the point I have been trying to make has more or less fallen flat. If I were a clergyman, if I were a deacon, if I were an archbishop — I can't go on up in the category — how would I feel if some smart aleck social worker said to me, “Ha Ha God by‑passed you and worked through the ex‑drunks"? I wouldn't think it very funny, either. In fact, I might have resented it. I might have walked out of such a meeting. I would be thinking very critical things about the speaker. I would have made up my mind that the speaker was a waste of time, and I probably would not have heard anything that came after that.
Does God By-Pass the Clergy?
This brings me to the gist of my message. I see the basic problem in the role of the clergy in alcoholism problems as a psychological sulk. I think that the Church may be a little peeved because it was by‑passed by some of God's knowledge. Many churchmen have washed their hands of alcoholism and have turned to AA. They have said, “See ye to it.” The first thing to be done in solving any problem is to gain some understanding of it. If you are concerned because your superior or your Church puts a low priority on alcoholism, let me suggest two questions for your own consideration. First, are they a little peeved because God used another messenger? Second, and this one might hurt, am I guilty of capitalizing on the fact that I know more than they do about the subject? The answers to these questions may provide some light on the subject that you were discussing in the session just before this one. Did you ever wonder why the National Clergy Council on Alcoholism was made up of such a high percentage of recovered and recovering alcoholics? You are concerned with one of the most serious problems of the day. Our Churches and the God they represent should be in the front line dealing with human problems like alcoholism. Our Church leaders should be combining all the knowledge that they can get from God and man to prevent this hellish problem, where each victim drags other people down into the malaise of his own sickness. I maintain that a clergyman who is a recovered alcoholic has no more responsibility in alcoholism than does a clergyman who is not a recovered alcoholic. I maintain that those of us who are concerned with alcoholism have done a poor job of spreading our concern, and I propose to explore some of the reasons why we have not spread our concern. It is my impression that an alcoholic clergyman faces some problems that are different from the problems of a lay alcoholic. The clergyman is a man of God and a leader of men. People do respect his position even before they respect him as a person. People look to the clergyman for counselling and guidance and spiritual help. We put clergymen on a pedestal and we treat them like little gods who are always ready to help, and we forget that they are human beings just like the rest of us. The way we laymen treat our clergy does something to the clergyman. It helps to build a self-image that is hard for the clergyman to live with when he knows that he too has feet of clay. There is always the temptation on the part of the clergyman to let people feel that he is like the image they create, rather than like what he really is. A disease that makes a person a patient rather than a healer is upsetting to a professional healer. And this, I think, makes the problem difficult for the alcoholic. A clergyman for these reasons has more cause to hide his alcoholism. I think it is harder for a man of God to say that he is powerless over alcohol than it is for other people. The word “Physician, Heal Thyself”can be a cruel stab to the ego. Those of you who are conquering the problem of alcoholism are winning in a fight more severe than any fight most of us will ever face. Let me suggest that herein lies one of our failures to interest the total clergy in the fight against alcoholism. Let me suggest that one of the reasons we have failed to interpret alcoholism to our superiors is to be found here. We have formed a sort of unstructured veterans’ organization with psychological barriers that keep other people out. We have unconsciously created an atmosphere that says, “If you didn't fight the great war with us, you can't be part of the alcoholic legion.” This is a very natural and an understandable attitude. I think it is a self satisfying attitude, but I also think it is a very dangerous attitude. Anything that you do that discourages other clergyman from using the tools that they have to help alcoholics is a very dangerous act. The truth that the recovered alcoholic has certain tools that the non‑alcoholic does not have is no excuse for not encouraging the non‑alcoholic to use the tools that he does have. I sincerely believe that every clergyman has tools that can be used to help alcoholics. And I think that we have the responsibility of helping every other clergyman to use those tools which he does have.
A Chest of Tools Available
There is an interesting story in the Bible that ought to stress this point that I am making. I am sure you remember the story of David and Goliath, but do you remember the story of what happened just before David went out to fight Goliath? Saul took David into his tent and offered him his tools. He offered him his vest plate; he offered him his helmet, his shield, and his sword. And in essence he said, “These tools have been effective for me; therefore, I am offering them to you.” But David wasn't buying. He said,“Look, Daddy O, you have your tools and I have my tools. I've killed a bear with my tools. I have killed lions with my tools. I know how to use my tools, but I don't have time to learn how to use yours.” Now, you know the rest of the story, but it was the sling and not the sword that felled Goliath. The sword came later. I think that recovered alcoholics must encourage non‑alcoholics to use the tools that they have, and I suggest that we have failed to interest the concern and the interest of our superiors because we have insisted that our tools were the only tools. Perhaps another reason for our failure arises from our having taken a rather narrow view of the problem. AA is dedicated to helping the suffering alcoholic. It is concentrating on alcoholics, not alcoholism; and it is doing an exceedingly good job of helping alcoholics. Now, I am not suggesting any changes in this concentration. But I am suggesting that the Church and the clergy have a broader role than does AA. We have never conquered a disease by treating victims. It's not likely that we are going to conquer alcoholism just by treating alcoholics. Someone must be working on the problem of alcoholism. The name of your group suggests that you are an organization dealing with alcoholism rather than alcoholics. Yet, I suspect that you may be concentrating a great deal on the alcoholics and forgetting alcoholism. Perhaps a change in focus should be considered. We live in a social order that breeds alcoholism. We live in a social order that uses all sorts of drugs to cope with problems that are better solved in other ways. We live in a social order that makes alcohol and other drugs far more important than they should be. We live in a social order that closes its eyes to the early symptoms of alcoholism. That enters into a rather unholy alliance with alcoholics to help them hide the problem. We live in a society that treats advanced stages of alcoholism and forgets that it took years to develop those advanced cases. We live in a society that I think is paying only lip service to the concept of alcoholism as an illness. I think clergymen can attack these problems. Any Church that says that alcohol in itself is not bad has the responsibility to recognize openly that for some people alcohol is poison. I think everyone in your parish should understand that some people, through no fault of their own, cannot tolerate alcohol. I suspect that as clergymen with pastoral counselling, as father confessors, you see many people with problems that are a prelude to alcoholism. The counsellor who is aware of the problem of alcoholism can frequently spot pre‑alcoholics. He can learn about pending or actual alcoholism from the families of alcoholics. If the clergyman learns to spot early stage alcoholics and to help them with problems, he may indeed be doing preventive work against alcoholism. Alcoholism, like many other human problems, can be prevented if we can help people to find healthy solutions for normal problems. From my point of prejudice, I am inclined to believe that alcoholics gain more from drinking than non‑alcoholics gain from drinking. I see fears and guilts and insecurity and boredom and lack of a realistic self‑image, as spawning grounds for alcoholism. I think that healthy Christian living and Christian fellowship can meet some of these normal human problems. When the individual is beginning to use alcohol as a coping method, he seems to find alcohol a very important thing in his life. I think an alert pastor will see pending alcoholism and will mobilize resources of the Church to help people meet problems in ways more healthy than the use of a drug. Each of you has in your parish taxpayers and citizens who have need to be concerned about the costs of alcoholism, even though it doesn't touch their families. Your parishioners are part of the social order that hides alcoholism, that breeds alcoholism, that over‑emphasizes the importance of alcohol and that pays lip service to the disease concept of alcoholism. I feel that as agents of God you have a responsibility to influence changes in these attitudes. So far I have tried to cover three points in terms of what the clergy can do about alcoholism: 1. Teach parishioners that there are some dangers related to alcohol use. 2. Help provide better means than alcohol for coping with personal problems. 3. Discovering alcoholics before they become full blown and getting them to treatment. Now these things I consider to be attacks on alcoholism rather than work with alcoholics. I think that more activity in this area will build a little different image of the pastor as a community‑minded person. I think that this sort of attitude for all people will create an atmosphere where people with problems are ready to come out and talk about them. I think it will bring to you requests to serve on boards of alcoholism programs, and I strongly urge you to get involved with this work and to encourage the people in your parish to be part of a community that is facing alcoholism in many ways. I think that both you and your parishioners should be informed, you should know what is happening in your legislative bodies in relation to addiction problems. I think you should speak up and let people know of your concern and the concern of other people in these problems.
Skills Must Be Shared
Now let me say a few words about pastoral counselling with alcoholics. It's been my observation that many clergymen who are recovered alcoholics forget that they are clergymen when they work with alcoholics. I think too often they are using their own recovery as their major tool and are forgetting that there are other tools that they have. I suspect that the recovered alcoholic clergyman, because of weapons that were meaningful to him in the battle, tries to get all alcoholics to put on the same armour. If the clergyman works with alcoholics as a twelfth step operation and nothing more, then I think he short‑changes the alcoholic. If his only answer for alcoholism for everyone is the answer that was the right answer for him, then I think something is wrong. There are many answers for alcoholism and no one answer is the answer for all alcoholics. There are answers like clinics, and hospitals, and half‑way houses. In pastoral counselling you might be an access point for someone getting to a helpful area which was not the area so far as your own problem was concerned. You have certain skills in helping people in trouble. You have certain skills in understanding people with problems; you have skills in putting people in touch with community resources; you have skills in understanding God's methods of healing human ills. These are skills that you developed before you knew that you were alcoholic; these are skills that you helped other people with, and I think you have no right to deny these skills to alcoholics also. Often we make the mistake of assuming that alcoholics are a special breed that must be handled differently from other people. Alcoholics have financial problems. The fact that we have a feeling for alcoholism does not qualify us to handle financial problems if we did not have the qualification otherwise. I think that often because an alcoholic is an alcoholic, we assume that he doesn't have other problems. We assume that all of his help must come through alcoholism resources. Alcoholics are human beings who have many problems; the community has many resources, and I think we miss the boat if we think that the only help for an alcoholic is going to come from an alcoholism source. They have financial problems, they have social problems, they have spiritual problems just like the rest of us. Sometimes I think you can treat alcoholism problems not by talking about alcoholism but by treating some of the problems that seem to rate high in the minds of the person. You may have to slip up on alcoholism sometimes. I believe that every man that becomes involved in helping alcoholics has a responsibility to know his allies. I think that courts, and banks, and labor unions, and employers, and welfare departments, and mental health clinics, and hospitals and their clinics, and social agencies and alcoholism programs, and Church groups, and Alcoholics Anonymous, are all potential allies for the pastor who wants to work with alcoholics. You should know these resources and you should have ways of contacting them when the need arises. It is clear that the fields are white with harvest and the laborers are few, but let me suggest to you that the laborers are not as few as we are inclined to believe. There are other laborers, and maybe our job is to go out into the highways and the by‑ways and find these people rather than think that we can hold the alcoholic entirely to ourselves and meet all of their needs. We need to get all the help that we can, and we must not insist that alcoholics put on our armour or that we fight their fight. We are coming to the close of three days of serious consideration of an illness that is one of the greatest threats to God's number one creation, human beings. I think it is time to ask ourselves whether or not we will leave these sessions better equipped to bring God's wisdom to focus on this problem. You came here with firm convictions about alcoholism and about alcoholics. I dare say that you will leave here with very little change having been made in those firm convictions. Perhaps some of these convictions should have been disturbed, but right or wrong, we protest our firm convictions and we reject any other idea of other people who would try to change them. But we came here with something more than convictions. We came here with some questions. The fact that you came to this meeting indicates the fact that you were not entirely satisfied with all of your answers. The things that you have heard these three days should be like new tastes and new spices in your diet. They must enter into your bodies and be digested and carried to the organs and the cells that have been nurtured by thousands of other ideas and beliefs and prejudices. Through this filtering process these new ideas may become a part of you. I can only hope that the taste of a new idea can find a welcome among the old ideas that you brought here, so that your being here will result in your being a little more understanding of a misunderstood human problem. I hope that the alcoholics that you meet and their families that you meet will have a little better chance to make it because you were here. And I appreciate the fact that I had a chance to add some of that spice to your diet.
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